Rat-trap.



No. 895,416. y

5183811 cosi:

1 PATENTED J11111.11, 190s. s. S1301". RAT T1111. 1

APPLICATION FILED JAH. 9. 1008.

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SANFORD STEWART BOYD, OF LAURES, SOUTH CAROLINA.

RAT-TRAP.

vSpeeiftemsion. of Letters Patent.

" Patented Aug. 11, 1908.

Application led. January 9, 1908. Serial No. 409,980.

To all whom it Amay 'concer-n:

Be it known that I, SANFORD STEWART BOYD, citizen of the United States,residing at Laurens, in the, county of Laurens and State of SouthCarolina, have invented new and useful Improvements in Rat-Traps, ofwhich the following is a specification.

M invent-ion pertains to animal traps; and 1t has for its object toprovide a rat trap which without beinor unduly expensive in constructionis calculated to baille the sagacity of rats and is otherwise possessedof high efficiency.

Vith the foregoing in mind, the invention will be fully unt erstood fromthe following description and claims when the same are read inconnection with the drawings, accompanying and forming part of thisspeciication, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rat trap constituting a practicalembodiment of my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section ofthe same. Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken through the primary cage ofthe trap at a right angle to Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a horlzontal sectiontaken through the said rimary cage of the trap in a plane above the Boorthereof.

Similarletters designate corresponding arts in all of the views of thedrawings, reerring to which:

A is the primary cage of my novel rat trap, and B is -the secondarycage. thereof. The primary cage A is formed by a floor a and apreferably cone-shaped wall b of woven wire, and is provided in the saidwall b with an entrance o ening c. The secondary cage B is formed y afloor d and a preferably coneshaped wall e of woven wire, and isprovided in said wall e with an eduction opening normally closed by aslidable door f, as shown, or any other suitable door compatible withthe purpose of my invention.

Extendinor between and connecting the primary and secondary cages is apassage C which projects into the secondary cage and is thereV providedwith an end wall g having an openino' h in its lower portion and alsohaving a flange i disposed above the said opening. The said passage C isconstructed with a fixed floor and a tilting platform k; -the latterbeing fulcrumed at a point adjacent to the forward end of the fixedfloor y', and being normally held by a weighted arm in the positionillustratedi. e., with its forward end bearing upward against the underl In the upper portion of tube side of the flange i. 'lhus it will bemanifest that when a rat finds its way from the primary cage A. into thepassage C, it will walk along.t the fixed floor y and then forward onthe plat-form c, whereupon the said platform will tilt to permit the ratto pass through the opening` h into the secondary cage B, and then willbe returnedv b the weighted arm l illustrated. so as to prec ude thereturn of the rat from the said secondary cage through the passage C.

lFor convenience in handling the trap as a whole, I prefer to connectthe upper portions of the primary nd secondary cages A and B through themeadium of a bar D which may be and preferably -is formed by' a tube ofsheet-metal.

In the floor a `of the primary cage A is formed an opening \E which isdisposed between the entrance opening c and a bait receptacle F, as besthewn in Fig. 4. Under the said o ening arranged a tilting platform G wlich is fixed i at one end to a rock-shaft H, journaled in' suitablebearings on the under side of the floor l hs illustrated. T he saidrock-shaft H is provided at one end with a weighted arm I, and at itsopposite end it has an arm J connectedto a bolt K which extends upwardthrough the floor a for an important purpose hereinafter pointed out. Atthis point attention is direct-ed to the fact that in passing from theentrance opening c to the bait receptacle F, a rat will step on theplatform G and tilt said platform and rock the shaft H and raise theweighted Unrirnn sTarEsPATEN-T onirica," y,

arm I and depress the arm J and thereby necessarily, formed ofsheet1nctal and is' shaped correspondingly to the conical wall b of thesaid primary cage. The said swinging partition wall M is preferabl)provided with a central tube N, and this .utter extends through anopening in the top of the primary cage .A and receives the shaft K whichis also held against rotation in a frame R fixed to and rising from thetop of. the cage A.,

is arranged a celled spring S which 1s connected at one of its ends tothe tube N and at its opposite end to the shaft K2 and is so disposedthat it will be placed under tension by rotation of the tube N andpartition wall M in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4.ll'hen 5 it is necessary to place the saidspring S under tension, theweighted arm I is raised and held in raised position to hold the bolt Kin its lower position, and the partition M and t-hc tube N are turned bymanipulation of t-lie latter until the spring S is' compressed to thedesired extent, whereupon the weighted arm I is released and permittedto gravitate so as to raise the bolt K and enable the latter to preventmovement of the partition M in the direction opposite to that indicatedby the arrow in Fig. 4.

The artition wall M normally rest-s against the bot K and ,in a positionbetween the passage C and that portion of the lloor of the primary cageA provided with the tilting platform G and the bait receptacle F.Consequently it will be manifest that when a rat enters the primary cagethrough the opening c it will, in moving toward the bait recep- L tacleF, step upon and depress the platform i G so as to rock the shaft H anddraw the bolt K downward out of the path of the swinging partit-ion wallM, whereupon the spring S will quickly move the partition wall M in thedirection opposite to that indicated by arrow in Fig. et, so as to causethe rat to move to a position on the floor a at the opposite side of theplatform G, with reference to the entrance opening c. The spring S willalso move the partition wall M in the direction last stated iuitil thewall again brings up i againstthe bolt K which is tien in a raised gosition because of the weight of the rat iaving been removed from theplatform G.

At this time it will be manifest that the rat is separated from theentrance opening c by the partition wall M, and that it can only findegress from the primary cage A through the passage C, and when the ratmoves through the said passage it will bc caught in y the secondary cageB in the manner before i described, anti cflectually prevented from 5escaping from the said secondary cage.

i It will gathered from the foregoing that immediately after a rat iscaught by the movement of the partition wall M under the l action of thespring S, the trap is in readiness to catch any other rats that may findtheir way into the primary cage A through the y entrance o )ening a,

It will a so be appreciated from the foregoing that the trap as a wholeis simple and inexpensive in construction and is well adapted towithstand the usage to which devices of corres onding character areordinarilvssubjected).

ll'heii deemed expedient, the cage A may I be used without the secondarycage B and the assage C, in which event the said cage A will be providedwith a suitable door (not shown) to control the eduction openingv suchchanges or modifications may be made as fairly fall within the scope ofin v invention as defined in the claims appended.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetteis-Patent, is:

1. The combination in a rat trap, of a cage,

having an entrance opening, a vertically tilting platform arranged inthe cage, means for raising said platform and yieldinglvholding the samein a raised position, a horizontally swinging partition wall mounted inthe cage, a spring arranged to be placed under tension by swinging ofthe partition wall in one direction and to expand and swing t-he)artition wall in the opposite direction, a olt movable into and out ofthe path of the horizontally swinging partition, and a connectionintermediate the vertically tilting platform and the bolt arranged ondepression of the latform to withdraw the bolt from the pat 1 of thepartition wall.

2. The combination in a rat trap, of a cage havingr an entrance opening,a swinging p artition wall mounted in said cage, a spring arranged to beplaced under tei sion by swniging of the partition wall in one directionand to expand and swing the partition wall in the op osite direction, amovable bolt for normal y holding the partition wall against swingingmovement, a rock-shaft having an arm connected with the bolt, a platformcarried by said rock-shaft and arranged to be depressed by a rat in thetrap, and means for .yieldngly holding the said platform in a raisedposition.

3. The combination in a rat ti'ap, of a cagev having an entrance oicning, a frame fixed to and rising from sai cage, a shaft fixed in saidframe.` a swinging partition wall mounted in the cage and having a tubewhich extends up into the frame and receives the ixed shaft, a coiledspring arranged in said tube and connected at one end thereto and at itsopposite end to the shaft, a movable bolt for normally holding thepartition wall against movement, a platform arranged to be depressed bya rat in the cage, a connection between the platform and the bolt forwithdrawing the latter on depression of the former, and means foryieldingly holding the platform in a raised position.

-L The combination in a rat trap, of a primary cage, a secondary cage, apassage connecting the cages and controlled by a tilting latforni andmeans for returning said platorin to and normally retaining the ssnie ina raised position, a swinging partiti-:r` wall mount'd in the primarycage, a spring arconneoted and movable with theA latform range(y to beplaced under tension by swingand arranged' on depression of the atter toing of the partition wall in one direction and release the partitionwall. to expand and swing the partition wall inthe .in testimony whereofI have hereunto set 5 opposite direction, `a t1 ranged in the primarycage, means for ralsnesses. ing seid platform and yieldingly holding itSANFORD STEVART BOYD. in a raised position, and a bolt for normallyWitnesses: y holding the partition wall against movement XV. B. KNIGHT,1o nndenthe act-ion of its spring; said bolt being W. H. TRUM.

ting platform army hand in presence of two subscribing Wit` 15,

